Government involvement isn’t always socialism

A recent writer complained about socialism (“Economic failure socialism’s legacy,” The Daily Progress, Sept. 26) when his complaint was really directed at authoritarian communism.

What the letter writer fails to recognize is that many the world’s socialistic countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark) have some of the world’s highest standards of living and its happiest citizens. While citizens in those countries pay higher tax rates, those rates tend to cover education, health care, job training and government investments in infrastructure and technology.

The U.S. government has been heavily involved in our economy since the inception of this nation. Witness the assumption of the Revolutionary War debt by the new national government, early subsidies for canals and railroads, government land grants during the era of manifest destiny, land-grant colleges, and tariffs that protected domestic industries.

In the latter 20th century, the government built interstate highways, invested in space and technology development (like the Internet) and funded cancer research.
In more recent weeks we’ve witnessed the bail out of Bear Stearns, the government take-overs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-brokered sale of Merrill Lynch and a pending bailout of Wall Street and the credit markets.
Does the writer view these activities with suspicion? Or, are they acts of necessity because deregulated capitalistic markets, driven by unbridled greed, failed?

Don’t we know the answer?